Joint construction for ceiling panels

ABSTRACT

An improved joint structure for a strip concealing means which covers fasteners that hold a ceiling panel in position. Angled grooves are provided in a ceiling board for receiving a strip. Between the angled grooves, staples are placed to fasten the board in position, and the strip is placed in the grooves to conceal the staples.

Unite States atent I 1 Davey et a1.

JOINT CONSTRUCTION FOR CEILING PANELS Inventors: John R. Davey, CampHill; Charles F. Gilbo, Lancaster; Norman A. Johnson, Lititz; Thomas W.Fritz, East Petersburg, all of Pa.

Assignee: Armstrong Cork Company,

Lancaster, Pa.

Filed: Dec. 15, 1972 Appl. No.: 315,524

Related U.S. Application Data Continuation of Ser. No. 153,508, June 16,1971, Pat. No. 3,745,734.

U.S. Cl. 144/326 R, 52/471, 52/716,

52/753 R int. Cl. B27c 9/00 Field of Search 144/323, 326 R, 136 R;

[11] I 3,818,961 June 25, 1.974

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,407,250 '2/1922 Burnett52/467 1,814,702 7/1931 Jensen 144/136 R 3,085,301 4/1963 Nuorivaara52/461 X 3,353,321 11/1967 Heilweil et a1 52/716 3,545,154 12/1970Bobzin et a1 52/471 X Primary ExaminerAndrew R. .luhasz AssistantExaminer-W. D. Bray [5 7 ABSTRACT An improved joint structure for astrip concealing means which covers fasteners that hold a ceiling panelin position. Angled grooves are provided in a ceiling board for Ireceiving a strip. Between the angled grooves, staples are placed tofasten the board in position, and the strip is placed in the grooves toconceal the staples.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures CROSS REVERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION Thisapplication is a continuing application of commonlyassigned, copendingU.S. application Ser. No.

153,508, filed June 16, 1971, in the names of John R. Davey et al. andentitled JointConstruction for Ceiling Panels," now U.S. Pat. No.3,745,734, patented July 17. 1973.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention isdirected to a structure for ceiling boards and, more particularly, to ajoint structure used in conjunction with a concealing strip.

2. Description of the Prior Art Heretofore, when a ceiling for a mobilehome was assembled, large surface panels were fastened to supporingframe members. However, the exposed fasteners, such as nails, staples orrosettes have presented an unsightly appearance and have spoiled theattractiveness of the ceiling. One answer has been found in the placingof stapes in a preformed groove or bevel in the panels. Since thestaples, which are driven into the panels, are not always properlyaligned in the bottom of the grooves, an unsightly appearance couldresult.

A panel assembly system as shown in US. Pat. No. 3,085,301 has beentried in which a flexible strip is inserted into mating grooves in" theabutting edges of the panels. The flexible strip, however, does notalways move smoothly in the groovesbecause quite frequently thefasteners, suchas staples or nails, are not properly driven into placeand interfere with the forward movement of the strip. Also, the flexiblestrip does: not provide a sturdy structure. v I

In U.S. Pat. No.'3,545,1 54, an improvement was developed wherein arigid strip was used with a raised center area which extended over anyimproperly driven staples or nails. Both the above structures utilized aflange structure for the strip which had the flange structure in thesame plane. The grooves for receiving the flanges were also in a commonplane in the board structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention pertains to a surface panelassembly in which the panel is grooved to receive rigid strips whichcover the fasteners holding the board in position. The strip slides intwo grooves which extend parallel to each other, but are angled relativeto each other. The central area between the two grooves is raised toprovide support to the center region of the strip and to provide aregion for a staple guide structure which is set forth in copendingapplication, Ser. No. 153,509, filed June 16, 1971, entitled GuideGroove for Staple Gun. The angling of the two parallel grooves providesfor an advantage in manufacture of the board product and for a slightease of assembly of the strip to the ceiling board structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is the showing of the boardstructure with the grooves therein;

FIG. II is the cross-sectional view of the strip which is placed in thegrooves; and

' FIG. III is a cross-sectional view of the strip assembled in the boardand its groove structure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to FIG. I, thereis shown a crosssectional view of a ceiling panel or board 2. The boardsare normally four feet wide and are fastened to the ceiling rafterstructure of a mobile home. The rafters of the mobile home are 16 inchesapart. Therefore, the 4-foot ceiling board would be fastened at its edgeto one rafter and then at two separatepoints in the board 16 inchesapart. It would then be fastened along its opposite edge to the fourthadjacent rafter. If the ceiling board is being fastened to a rafter in acenter portion of the board, the ceiling board would have theconfiguration shown in FIG. I less the dotted line structure 4. At theedge of the ceiling board, each edge of the ceiling board would have aconfiguration similar to that to the right or left of the dual dottedline structure 4. One ceiling board would have the structure to theright of the dotted line while the adjacent ceiling boards would have astructure similar to that to the left of the dotted line structure.Consequently, when the two adjacent ceiling boards are placed side byside with the dotted line structure 4 representing the edge of theboards the appearance of the joint at the edge of the boards would bethe same as the appearance of the groove structure 16 inches in fromeither edge of the board. The board is provided with a raised structure6 into which staples are passed to fasten the ceiling board to theunderlying rafter structure 8. It will be seen that the staples passthrough the ceiling board 6 and grasp into the rafter 8 to hold theceiling board in position. At a joint structure, it can be seenthat oneprong of each of the staples passes through an adjacent one of theboards to provide support to each of the twoadjacent boards.

The ceiling boards are provided with groove structures 10 and 12 whichextend parallel to each other and are inclined ata slight angle relativeto each other. The

when the board is being manufactured. A saw would be positioned in theplane of the line 14 and would cut groove 10. The waste cut out of thegroove 10 is thrown along the plane of the line 14 and thus is notprojected into the groove 12. If the two grooves were in the same plane,as shown in the above-mentioned patents, the cutting of the groove 10would cause the sawdust generated thereby tobe thrown into the adjacentgroove 12 and clog up this groove with sawdust. There is then requiredthe additional step of cleaning out the groove 12-50 that the stripelement can slide into the groove.

FIG. II is a showing of the strip structure 15 which is placed in thegrooves 10 and 12. The strip has flanges 16 and 18 which extend into thegrooves 10 and 12. The strip structure also has a central body region 20which may be provided with a decorative surface. This structure 20overlies the surface 6 into which the staples have been placed. Thiscentral region 20 serves the purpose of providing a decorative cover forthe staples.

This strip 15 is a rigid strip. In this invention, the rigid strip mustbe such that it can easily be pushed along grooves and 12 from one endof a panel to the other end. Obviously, a strip which is flexible enoughto be conveniently handled on a reef cannot have the requisite rigidityand ease of placement. Obviously, the strip need not be so rigid as topermit no flexure at all for lengths of 10 to 12 feet, but it cannot beflexible such that it may be wound on a reel and bent in radii of lessthan 1 inch. While the strip may appear to have a raised area relativeto the flanges 16 and 18, it must be seen that this raised area does notexist relative to the plane of the staples. As can be seen in theembodiment of FIG. III, the underside of the central portion 20 of thestrip is closely adjacent the surface 6 into which the staples aredriven. Consequently, the assembled product i does not have a strip witha central raised area which is designed to pass over improperly drivenstaples. There would be a tendency for the strip 15 to hang up on animproperly driven staple; therefore, the staples must be driven flush orsubstantially flush with the surface 6 of the ceiling board.

FIG. [ll of the drawings shows the assembled product with the strip 15in position in the ceiling board 2. The flanges 16 and 18 are in therespective grooves 10 and '12. The central portion 20 closely overliesthe surface 6 of the ceiling board in which the staples have been 4driven. Consequently, the strip 20 carefully conceals the staples fromview.

What is claimed is:

l. The method of sawing groove means in a board structure, said boardhaving parallel front and rear wall surfaces and having a region intowhich staples maybe passed to fasten the board to an underlying supportstructure, a groove means being positioned at each side of the staplereceiving region, said groove means being formed by the steps of: sawingthe first groove means with a saw having its cutting plane at an anglerelative to the surface of the board being cut so as to form a groovemeans partly under the last-mentioned surface of the board, sawing thesecond groove means parallel with the first groove means and on theopposite side of the staple receiving region, said sawing of the secondgroove means being done with a saw having its cutting plane at a shallowangle relative to the surface of the board being cut so as to form agroove means partly under the surface of the board, said both sawingsteps being performed so that the planes of the saw extend above thestaple receiving region so that the groove means have openings facingeach other and toward the staple receiving region.

2. The method of sawing of claim 1 wherein the sawing steps areperformed with the plane of the saw posi tioned at an angle ofapproximately 13 from the plane of the surface receiving the staples.

1. The method of sawing groove means in a board structure, said boardhaving parallel front and rear wall surfaces and having a region intowhich staples may be passed to fasten the board to an underlying supportstructure, a groove means being positioned at each side of the staplereceiving region, said groove means being formed by the steps of: sawingthe first groove means with a saw having its cutting plane at an anglerelative to the surface of the board being cut so as to form a groovemeans partly under the last-mentioned surface of the board, sawing thesecond groove means parallel with the first groove means and on theopposite side of the staple receiving region, said sawing of the secondgroove means being done with a saw having its cutting plane at a shallowangle relative to the surface of the board being cut so as to form agroove means partly under the surface of the board, said both sawingsteps being performed so that the planes of the saw extend above thestaple receiving region so that the groove means have openings facingeach other and toward the staple receiving region.
 2. The method ofsawing of claim 1 wherein the sawing steps are performed with the planeof the saw positioned at an angle of approximately 13* from the plane ofthe surface receiving the staples.